Earthquake
by theoneandonlyfriendlymushroom
Summary: After suddenly disappearing for many months, Shadow appears again in the dead of winter. But as time goes on, it becomes clear that something is wrong. Very wrong.
1. A Cold Winter's Day

The alarm rang loudly as Rouge jostled awake. She read the time on the clock as she slapped the off button. 8:30 A.M. Time to get ready for work. As soon as she took the cover and the many blankets off of her she hurried over to the coat rack that she used to hold her robe. Damn it was cold, winter sucks!

"The only good thing that comes out of this time of year is the fact that the nights are longer." Rouge thought to herself.

Rouge then put on her robe and trudged through her small apartment, atop club rouge, and made her way into the kitchen. She poured herself some coffee, grabbed an apple, a banana, and a couple of grapes. Which makes since due to the fact that she is a fruit bat after all. She sat down at the dining room table and began to eat. However, there was something not quite right with this scene. Rouge looked up from her meal across the table.

"Good morning Shadow."

She sat there staring at an empty chair hoping for a reply that never came. This had been apart of a daily routine for sometime now. Usually when shadow disappears it's only for a brief while, mostly around four days to a week at the maximum. But this time he had been gone even longer, six months in fact! He did not even come to tell her how long he was going to be gone! But the alarming thing about that is that he ALWAYS tells her how long he would be gone! She had thought about going to look for her dear friend, but the others had convinced her that this was just another one of his disappearing acts, and that he probably just wanted to be alone for a while. So, she didn't.

"He's the ultimate life form after all. He can take care of himself" she had thought all those months ago.

Rouge then came out of her daydream. She glanced at the clock and hurriedly finished her breakfast. She went into the bathroom and did her morning preparations and moved back into her bedroom to get dressed. She decided to wear a star-shaped breastplate today instead of her usual heart-shaped one. The reason being that it was the last day of work before GUN lets off their agents and spies for holiday break, so she wanted to get into the spirit of the season. She put on her extremely feminine bodysuit that had sleeves due to the time of year and attached the breastplate to it. After checking in the mirror to make sure that everything looked right, she went out of her bedroom, proceeded through the front door of her apartment, locked her front door, and flew off to work.


	2. A Terrible Day at Work

When Rouge got to work she was called to the secretary's desk.

"Commander Harrison would like to see you in his office Miss. Rouge."

Just by hearing that she could already tell that today was going to be just awful. Commander Harrison recently took over as GUN Commander when Commander Towers decided to retire six months ago because he wanted to spend more time with his grandchildren. Harrison was chosen because he was some high-ranking general next in the order of succession. At first, he had seemed like a friendly guy, but then his true colors came out, but only to the mobians in the agency at that. He puts a new meaning to the term "an old racist asshole". He hated queers and everyone who was not a Protestant Christian with a hard passion. He could not stand the idea of women out in the work force, if they did not work as a Secretary, then he believed that they should stay at home. But worst of all, he hated the Mobians. He believed that all Mobians were freaks of nature, despite most of the Earth's population being Mobian; he believed that since they were animals that they should be treated as such. And by that he meant that they should all be rounded up and be contained, the people spayed and neutered so they could not breed, the children unable to get an education so they would never know any different, and everyone shot if they were old or got sick. Now you may ask: but if he hates mobians, then how is Rouge still in the agency? Well, he knew that if he had fired all of the Mobians in his army, then it would cause a worldwide uproar and the possibility of getting fired by the President himself. He also knew, though he absolutely hated to admit it, that some of his best spies and agents were Mobians. Two of them were, of course, Rouge and Shadow. Rouge knew all of this and so did the others. She knew that the commander hated her out of all of the other female Mobians because of her flirtatious looks and personality. Now that she thought of it, the last time she saw Shadow was when he got on an elevator to go up to his office, the very same elevator she was on in fact! The elevator door opened up into a small hallway with a big door and Secretary on the immediate left. Rouge checked with her, and proceeded through the doors. The doors led into a magnificent office with mahogany furniture and a matching wood floor with a giant rug that had the symbol of G.U.N. At the desk was a man in his late 40's with short dark hair and golden eyes, staring back at Rouge with hate in his eyes.

"Good morning Agent Rouge" He spoke.

"Good morning Commander." Rouge replied.

Rouge stood up as straight as she could or else the commander would yell at her and then proceeded to pull her ears. Hard. He rose from his seat.

"As you already know, the agency has a six month disappearance policy before an agent is classified as deceased. This means that if an agent does not report back to the agency in less than six months, then that agent is accounted for as deceased. Now, your partner Shadow has been missing for six months now correct?"

"Yes, that is correct sir."

"Then I am afraid that I will have to classify him as deceased and assign you a new partner."

Rouge could not believe what she was hearing!

"Sir I know that he's alive! You were the last person to see him, just tell me where his mission was and I'll go and find him! You won't even have to pay m-"

"That's enough backtalk agent!" shouted the commander with a hard pull to Rouge's ear. She screamed in pain until he finally let go.

"Shadow is DEAD. Do you hear me? DEAD. You are going to get a new partner and you are going to like it. So forget everything about him. DO YOU HEAR ME?!"

"Yes sir." Stated Rouge as she rubbed her ears from the pain caused by all of the yelling and pulling.

"Good, you are dismissed. You'll find your new partner in the lobby. Now leave." Said the commander as he turned his back to her.

Rouge stood up, exited the room, and waited for an elevator. But as she was getting on the elevator, she could slightly hear laughter coming from the commander's room as the doors closed.

When Rouge got into the lobby, she looked around and then sat down in a comfortable spot. A few minutes later a hedgehog came up to her.

"Well, hello there." He said with a flirtatious smile. "What are you doing sitting here all by your lonesome?"

"Uh... hey there. Um.. I'm just waiting for my partner to get here... who ever it is." Usually, Rouge would feel like teasing this kind of a person, but she just was not in the mood today.

"Well I think that I'm your man. I've been waiting for my partner too." He then proceeded to rub his fingers through his quills. "The name is Reggie the Hedgehog. And what's yours doll face?"

"Rouge." Rouge was then able to get a better look at Reggie. He was built exactly like shadow except that he did not have any chest fur and where Shadow was black; Reggie was red and so-on-and-so-forth.

"A sexy name for a sexy lady! Come on, let's get a drink and get to know each other better." Reggie then wrapped his arm around Rouge's waist and they both started walking towards the bar.

"This is going to be a long day." Thought Rouge as she sighed.


	3. Found

Rouge growled in annoyance as she flew through the air.

"That was absolutely the worst day of work ever!" she thought angrily to herself.

Her new partner was a perverted teenager! In only one hour, he had spanked her, groped her, tried to kiss her, and even touched the ladies! After all of that, she had finally had enough round-housed kicked the little pervert, making him fly into the nearest wall. She then walked out of the front door and flew away.

"I swear to God if that little pervert tries anything else after we get back from break that I'll put him in the hospi-"

Rouge fell silent as she shielded her eyes from some wind shear.

"Ugh... there's too much turbulence tonight to fly. Damm it!" She said as she landed.

"Looks like I'm walking home tonight."

Around five minutes later Rouge was freezing.

"God it's cold tonight." She said to herself as she rubbed her hands together to keep warm.

This however, was useless as she landed face first in the snow.

"Oh, for the love of God what is it this-"

Rouge turned around to see what she had tripped over- or more like WHOM she tripped over.

"Time."

Rouge hurriedly bent down to check for a pulse, and luckily, there was one, but the stranger was struggling to breathe and desperately needed warmth. She thought about calling an ambulance, but she remembered that she was at least thirty minutes away from the nearest hospital, which was too long for someone who needed help right now. She decided to take the freezing person back to her apartment, which was right around the corner. Seeing no other option, she picked up the stranger, who was luckily very light, and headed for her apartment.

About ten minutes later, Rouge had finally gotten everything settled. She had lit her fireplace and pushed a comfortable chair next to it. She placed the stranger in the chair and wrapped him up in many blankets. While doing this, Rouge finally got a good look at the stranger, and she had to keep checking with herself to make sure that his was not a terrible nightmare. The stranger was clearly a Mobian, but she could not identify his ethnicity because he had no fur. He was completely naked with cuts, bruises, and... writing? Yes, words such as "Demon", "Satan", and other vulgar words were written all over him. He appeared to be a hedgehog because of his ears and tail, which was clearly broken. He also had a giant gash on his forehead, and his ribs could be seen clearly. With her examination complete, Rouge went to work applying first aid to the needy hedgehog. She took a magazine and some tape and made a temporary splint for his broken tail. She then got some alcohol, soap, an old but clean rag, some paper towels, a water bottle, and a sponge, and started cleaning the hedgehog's head wound. When she finished, she wrapped the rag around the gash, and stood up. She went into her kitchen to call the hospital.

"Let's see now, that'll be 9-" Rouge paused as she heard a sound come from the living room.

She put the phone down and went to make sure that her guest was all right, maybe even awake. But when she turned the corner, she found that the hedgehog was missing from the chair! Rouge scanned her thoughts looking for a possible explanation when she suddenly heard quite a racket coming from the bedroom area.

"There he is." thought Rouge.

She first checked her room, looking in her closet and even underneath her bed. Much to her disappointment, he was in neither place. Rouge winced in realization of where the hedgehog was: in Shadow's room. Shadow's room was a place where she did not even DARE to go into. She knew that he would have chaos blasted the whole building if he caught her in there. Besides, it was his room and his room only; he didn't invade her room because it was hers, a policy of privacy that she still followed even after all of these months. Unfortunately, though, desperate times called for desperate measures, and she knew that Shadow would understand. So, with a deep breath, Rouge opened the door and looked in... and there was the hedgehog sitting in a corner with his back facing her. Slowly, but surely, she made her way towards the hedgehog. As she crept closer, she could hear a slight murmur in the air. She also noticed that the hedgehog was rocking back and forth, crying while clutching something. She lowered herself.

"Uh...hey ther-"

"NO!"

Suddenly, the hedgehog turned around and began to attack her! He pinned her down on the floor and started to hit her!

"NO! I'M NOT GOING BACK! I'LL NEVER GO BACK!" Screamed the hedgehog.

Rouge struggled for a few moments, but she finally flipped the hedgehog over to where he was the one pinned down. He struggled for a bit, but then finally calmed down while still crying.

"No...no...no..."

"Shhh...be quiet. Now, what are you doing in here?" Asked Rouge.

The hedgehog silently looked around.

"Because this is my room."


	4. Wrong

Rouge's eyes widened in disbelief.

"Shadow? Is that you?"

Now that she realized it, the hedgehog had red markings over his eyes and a deep voice.

"Who's Shadow?" Shadow asked quietly.

"You mean that you don't remember your name?" Rouge asked as she got off the poor hedgehog.

"No. I do not recall much at all really. I just recognized where I was and remembered that she was here."

"She?"

"Yeah, her."

Shadow showed Rouge what he had been clutching in his hand the entire time. It was a little cloth doll of a girl in a blue dress with blue eyes and long blonde hair.

"Oh...I see. Well, are you alright?"

"Wrong."

"Excuse me?"

"I said that I feel wrong." Shadow whispered with his head down, holding the doll close to his chest.

"Are you saying that you're in pain?"

"Yes."

"Where does it hurt?"

"Everywhere."

Rouge's eyes, once again, widened.

"Ohhh God... alright you just get into bed while I call the hospital and-"

"NO! NOT THERE!" Shadow screamed. "They'll find me and take me back if you do!"

"Who'll take you back? And to where?"

"I don't know! I just know that it's in hell and I'll die if I went back!"

"But you need medical assistance!"

"Isn't there someplace else you can take me? Somewhere safer?"

With that being said, a certain fox came into Rouge's mind.

"I think I know just the guy. Wait here and I'll give him a call."

Rouge dashed into the kitchen where the phone was and dialed a number. It rang a few times until it was picked up on the other end.

"Hello?" Said a small voice that sounded as if the owner had just woken up, which made sense due to it being 11:00 PM.

"Tails, it's Rouge. I need you to get some medical supplies and equipment ready."

"Medical equipment? Why do you need medical equipment at this hour?"

"You'll see when we get there. Now get to it!"

"Wait, what do you mean we?!"

Rouge hung up the phone and ran back into the bedroom where Shadow was sitting on the bed.

"Alright, I've got everything all figured out. Let's go!"

"Where are we going?" Asked Shadow.

"You remember Tails, right?"

"No. Like I've said, I don't recall much. Can't this Tails person come over here? It's really cold outside."

"I'm sorry Shadow, but in order to get the medical assistance that you need, we have to get you to Tails' house. But I do have some things that can make the trip a bit easier."

Rouge opened Shadow's closet and searched for a coat. Luckily, there was one, along with a green scarf, a toboggan, a pair of thick pants, any black snow boats, all of which were probably bought for certain missions. Eggman would sometimes build bases in an arctic climate, and the missions would include monitoring and sometimes destroying the base. Rouge put the articles of clothing on Shadow.

"There we go." she said when she finished.

"Okay, but I have a question before we leave though."

"What?"

"Can I bring her along?"

Shadow looked down at the little doll in his arms. Rouge smiled.

"Sure."

And so, the two headed out the door into the cold.


	5. Tails' House

Rouge and Shadow were making their way through the blizzard, shivering and freezing. Rouge was fine, but Shadow on the other hand was barely keeping up. The wind was blowing very hard, knocking His already weakened body into the snow every time he got up. Rouge looked behind and noticed this, so she went to the hedgehog and pulled Him up out of the snow. She then spread her wings apart to shield Shadow from the blistering winds and they both continued walking. They walked for a couple minutes until Rouge saw the lights of Tails' place up on the hill.

"Only a little further now Shadow!"

They then trudged up the hill until they got to the crest. The house was only a few yards away when the door opened, revealing a yellow two-tailed fox behind it.

"They're here Sonic!" Shouted the fox.

Suddenly a blur of blue rushed out and grabbed Rouge and Shadow bringing them into the safety of the workshop. The blur sat Rouge down onto the couch and then swerved over to Tails stopping in front of him, revealing a blue hedgehog.

"Tails, do you want me to go on ahead and put him in the room with all of the medicine and stuff?"

"Nah just put him on the couch for now Sonic."

"Alright then." And with that Sonic walked over and set him down on the couch next to Rouge.

Poor Shadow was afraid that Sonic would go zooming off again and had his hands covering his eyes, which Rouge noticed.

"That's odd." Thought Rouge, "Why is he afraid of Sonic? They've broken the sound barrier together so why would he be so frightened?"

"So Rouge, who's your friend?" Sonic started.

"Sonic! Don't be rude!"

"I'm just asking!"

"Well it's none of our business who he is!" Tails said as he walked over to the couch with a medical bag and began checking Shadow.

There was silence as Tails examined Shadow.

"Alright Sonic, you can take him to the medical room now."

"Okay."

And with that Sonic lifted Shadow, who was looking back at Rouge over his shoulder, and took him down some stairs with Tails following.

Rouge waited a moment before Sonic came back up and sat next to her.

"So who's this friend you've got down there with Tails?"

"That's Shadow."

"Ah, Shadow."

Sonic nodded his head, until he realized what he just said.

"SHADOW?!" he said with surprise.

"What happened to him?"

"I don't know he won't tell me anything about who did this to him. What's worse is that he barely remembers anything!" Rouge put her head in her hands.

"Ohhh God... why?"

Even though her head was in her hands, Sonic could still hear the sadness in her voice. He put his hand on her shoulder and smiled.

"Hey."

Rouge looked up at him.

"He'll be alright, Tails knows what he's doing and I promise you, we'll find out who did this to him and kick their ass."

"Do you really mean that?"

"I swear on the Master Emerald. Okay?"

He put his hand out in a fist-bump.

Rouge smiled.

"Okay." She said, and returned the fist-bump.

They smiled at each other with determination in one and trust in the other. Suddenly, a high-pitched scream rang through the air. Rouge and Sonic both turned to the stairs.

"Tails?!" Shouted Sonic.

With that another scream rang through the air. The two then dashed down the stairs into the basement, where the injury treatment center was located for the Freedom Fighters and where Tails' work area began. As soon as Rouge and Sonic got to the bottom of the stairs Tails suddenly came flying out of a room and hit a wall. Sonic's eyes widened in horror.

"Tails!"

"NOOO! NO MORE!" Screamed Shadow as he came running out of the room Tails was flung out of.

He then started to claw Tails' body.

"Shadow?!" Shouted Rouge.

Nothing happened as Shadow continued.

"LEAVE TAILS ALONE SHADOW!" shouted Sonic as he curled up into a spin-dash and launched himself at Shadow.

Sonic hit Shadow, throwing him of Tails and into the wall. But this didn't stop Shadow as he then started to attack Sonic!

"Shadow stop!" Rouge shouted.

With that, Shadow just... stopped. But not the normal stop, he just stopped and stood straight up with a dead look in his eyes and a blank expression on his face. Silence filled the room as everyone stood still, not knowing what would happen next. And then, Shadow collapsed.


	6. Acid to Injury

Shadow was lying on a soft bed resting peacefully, with many IV wires connected to him. Staring into the bedroom was Sonic, checking to make sure that everything was still alright.

"He's still asleep, thank God." he said as he lightly closed the door and sat on a chair by it.

Tails was sitting on a workbench while Rouge was finishing bandaging his wounds.

"Done. Now, explain to me how THIS happened?" She said as she motioned at Tail's wounds.

"Well, everything was going fine; Shadow was cooperating with me and everything. I checked his vitals, and I had decided that he needed to be hooked up to an IV with some antibiotics administered, in case of any undetected pathogens and-"

"What are pathogens?" asked Sonic.

"Germs that cause disease. Anyways, so I tell this to Shadow who appeared to understand, but as soon as I took out the needle he started to attack me."

"So this was all just Shadow freaking out over a needle?" asked Sonic.

"Yes, and he was acting weird even before then. He kept avoiding any kind of contact, like when I was trying to listen to his heartbeat, he kept moving out of the way as if it was a knife or something."

"That is weird." commented Rouge.

"Yeah, but now that he is asleep, I can use the time to run some scans and tests on him. Sonic, could you do me a favor and move Shadow into the x-ray room please?"

Sonic nodded in response and went into the room where Shadow was sleeping. Tails then turned back to Rouge.

"It's going to take a couple of hours to complete these tests, Rouge. Why don't you go on home and get some rest. You have had quite a day." he said.

"Alright Tails, but if anything happens call me, ok?"

"Sure thing. See you later." said Tails.

"Bye Tails." said Rouge as she made her way up the stairs and exited the house.

Luckily, the storm had died down and she was able to get home in only a few minute. When she got home she went straight to bed, where exhaustion settled in a soon as her head hit the pillow.

The following morning, Rouge returned to Tail's house to visit Shadow and view the results of Tails' tests from the night before. She knocked on the front door and Sonic answered it a few seconds later.

"Oh hey Rouge come on in! Tails is waiting for you downstairs."

"Thanks Sonic."

Rouge then entered the living room and went down the stairs into the workshop.

"Rouge over here!" said Tails from behind her in an area that appeared to be designed as a break area because there was a couch and a coffee table.

Tails motioned for Rouge to sit next to him on the sofa.

"How are you?" he asked.

"I'm fine thanks, how is Shadow?"

"Did you get enough sleep?"

"Yes I did, how is Shadow doing?"

"Did you know that if you get at least eight hours of sleep every night that you'll -"

"Tails, quit avoiding my question! Is Shadow okay?!"

Tails sighed.

"Do you really want to know?"

"Yes. I need to know what's wrong with him so I can help him in anyway I can."

"Alright then." Tails took a deep breath before he continued.


	7. A Tortured Mind

"Alright Shadow, so I'm going to ask you some questions about how you got your injuries okay?" asked Tails.

"Okay." Shadow replied quietly.

"Do you remember where you got or who gave you those injuries?"

"No, I just remember that I was taken somewhere, But from to and from where I don't remember."

"Do you remember anything about your life before you were taken away?"

"Not really, just bits and pieces like my room and my little Maria. Other than that, nothing."

"Shadow, do you know what hypnosis is?"

"Yes I do."

"Will you allow me to hypnotize you? It won't hurt and it'll be over as soon as it starts."

"Okay I guess."

Tails walked over to Shadow.

"Alright, let's begin. Close your eyes. Picture a pool of light in front of you. Now, step into this pool and let the light surround you."

Tails waited as Shadow relaxed.

"Shadow, do you hear me?"

"Yes."

"Who am I?"

"Tails."

"Good. Now, who hurt you?"

"Maria did."

Tails wrote this down.

"Okay, now picture where they hurt you. Open your eyes, what do you see?"

"I see a very dark room. There's some light coming in from a little window in the door."

"How do you feel?"

"Afraid...hungry...thirsty...tired...and...pain. So...much...pain."

Shadow's ears started twitching.

"I hear something. Someone's coming!"

Shadow's ears lowered themselves in fear as he got up out of the chair. Suddenly, Shadow fell to the floor.

"Shadow?!" Tails asked alarmed.

Shadow then started to crawl away from Tails until he got into a corner, as if he was trying to hide from something. Or someone. He then curled up in the corner, hiding his face.

"No...no...I'm sorry! I'm sorry! Please don't hurt me Maria! I love you! PLEASE NO! NO! NO!"

"Stop it! Stop the recording I've had enough!" shouted Rouge.

Tails turned the recording off. They were both quiet for a few minutes until Tails finally spoke.

"I'm sorry you had to hear all of that."

"It's fine Tails, really. We needed to hear that so we can help Shadow overcome this. Where is he anyway?"

"He's still in the recovery room."

A soft dinging was heard as the clock on the wall chimed.

"12:00. Lunchtime. Can you do me a favor Rouge?"

"Sure what?"

"Could you take Shadow his lunch. I'm very busy as you can tell."

"Sure. Anything in particular I should make?"

"Nope. Just be sure not to feed him a lot of junk food."

"Alright then." 

"Thanks Rouge, and who knows? Maybe you'll get him to eat something." stated Tails as he was walking towards the stairs leading back up to the living room.

"He hasn't been eating?"

"No, he hasn't."

With that they both went upstairs together.


End file.
